COVID-19 Daily News Digest – July 10, 2020
Supreme Court rules half of Oklahoma is Indigenous land; Vallejo Police release edited video of Sean Monterrosa killing; Unemployment claims are historic & unprecedented
What are you dealing with during Covid-19? We take listener calls: One person calls to urge a Green New Deal, teachers call in to express frustration with Fresno schools reopening, a healthcare worker says seeing people in their city without masks on makes them feel “disposable,” and a homeowner wants to see mortgage relief from the government.
These Gorgeous Photos of Indigenous Life Are Helping Communities Fight COVID-19
Despite these challenges, Indigenous leaders are resisting the virus by using traditional knowledge and community defense measures. Overcoming the pandemic is about more than staying healthy, however. It’s also about coming out the other side with concrete plans and support for a more sustainable and equitable future.
Now a group of emerging Indigenous photographers and professional photographers associated with Indigenous communities are banding together to raise funds with a print sale through July 22 to make this transition possible.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/indigenous-photography-print-sale-covid-19/
Judge orders Brazil to protect Indigenous people from ravages of COVID-19
The president’s policies and rhetoric toward Indigenous Brazilians are so hostile that they essentially amount to an extermination campaign, our research finds. In late 2019, two leading Brazilian human rights organizations argued to the International Criminal Court of the United Nations that the right-wing leader was “inciting genocide” against Indigenous people.
Independent investigator to determine extent of anti-Indigenous racism in B.C. health-care system
“It’s important in my mind for the politicians, for the health-care providers, and people within our province to connect with our pain throughout this investigation, to recognize the trauma our people are going through, and somehow, collectively be able to cleanse the pain in order for us to move towards reconciliation.”
Peru ranks oil production over pandemic threat and Indigenous rights
For their own purposes, Peru’s metallurgical and mining industries produce most of the oxygen used in Peru. Indigenous activists envision health-care uses for industrial oxygen, particularly for treating COVID 19 infection. They denounced Frontera Energy’s decision as a violation of human rights.
The drama plays out in Block 192, in Loreto department where Frontera Energy enjoys exclusive rights to extract oil. Its efforts account for 20 percent of Peru’s total oil production.
An indigenous tribe’s COVID-19 court victory in Ecuador comes too little, too late
“We have suffered a lot, this illness isn’t easy. It’s not like any other illness. The Ministry of Health has to coordinate with us. They need to be more transparent, and as soon as possible, so support can arrive, so people can isolate, and actually reduce the contagion,” she said.The Waorani community filed a lawsuit on May 20, demanding that precautionary measures be taken to ensure their rights to health and life. The provincial court ruling requires The Ministry of Health to coordinate with Waorani leadership to provide medical supplies and send medical teams with intercultural experience to conduct testing and return the results.
Young, BIPOC Canadians face biggest financial setbacks from COVID-19
A new poll shows young Canadians and those who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour face the hardest hit to their finances from COVID-19.
The poll commissioned by TD Bank found 66 per cent of Canadians surveyed between 18 and 34 have experienced or anticipate experiencing unemployment or reduced hours as a result of COVID-19 compared with 38 per cent of those aged 55 plus.
Investigation into doctors’ blood-alcohol ‘game’ promises anonymity to health-care workers
The Indigenous lawyer, who’s known for her child-welfare advocacy, was appointed by Health Minister Adrian Dix three weeks ago to lead an investigation. Since then, Turpel-Lafond has assembled an investigative team, launched a website, survey and phone line to deal with allegations that health-care staff made a game out of guessing the blood-alcohol levels of Indigenous patients in emergency rooms before treating them.
No health-care workers have yet been suspended as a result of the allegations, which Dix said weeks ago were credible enough to warrant the investigation.
Indigenous film festival based out of Manitoulin Island goes online
“Our program reflects our voices, supports and celebrates Indigenous filmmakers, crew, artists, musicians and communities,” Cheechoo said. “With the pandemic and racism and social injustice at the forefront, we knew we had to take our festival online this year to offer these amazing voices to audiences around the world.”
Tickets can be found by visiting the festival website at weengushkfilmfestival.ca or searching Weengushk International Film Festival on Facebook.
‘On the far end of the Trail of Tears’: Nation’s highest court holds U.S. to promise in tribal treaty
By a vote of 5 to 4, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that the federal government must indeed live up to its word by honoring a treaty that promised a “forever” homeland to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The landmark yet straightforward decision, coming on the last day of a tumultuous term that had been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, was written by one of the president’s own nominees to the federal bench.
“On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opening of the high court’s highly anticipated opinion, evoking the genocidal removal instigated by Donald Trump’s presidential idol. “Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever.”
https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/07/09/on-the-far-end-of-the-trail-of-tears-nat.asp
Canada not ready for second wave of COVID-19, Senate committee says
Senators on the committee say the national emergency stockpile of personal protective gear like masks, gowns and gloves, wasn’t managed well over the years, nor sufficiently stocked when the pandemic struck the country in March.
Committee members add concerns that military members could be deployed without sufficient personal protective equipment because of “inconsistencies from international procurement.”
UN says Latin America and Caribbean are COVID-19 `hot spot’
“Women, who make up the majority of the workforce in economic sectors being most affected, now must also bear the brunt of additional care-giving,” Guterres said. “Older persons and persons with disabilities are at much higher risk of death from the virus. “
He said Indigenous peoples, those of African descent, migrants and refugees “are also suffering disproportionately.”
“Urban transmission of COVID-19 is of special concern to Latin America and the Caribbean as the world’s most urbanized developing region,” the report said,.
Bolivians Buried in Mass Graves as Hospitals “Collapse” Amid COVID-19 Surge
We collapsed about two months ago. We are attending to our people as we can, in stretchers, wheelchairs, however we can attend to them. We have collapsed.”